Ubisoft cancelled a Watch Dogs battle royale set in future Tokyo

Assassin’s Creed developer Ubisoft has reportedly cancelled a Watch Dogs battle royale game. Dubbed Watch_Dogs.EXE, the canned multiplayer game is said to have been the first AAA stealth-based game in the genre.

Revealed on 4Chan (via Reddit), the Watch Dogs battle royale game is said to be one of three games that Ubisoft recently cancelled. Amid lower than expected sales during 2022, the French mega-publisher cancelled three titles that were in active development.

The leak claims that Watch_Dogs.exe was in development alongside Ghost Recon: Frontline and The Division: Heartland. While the game was a decent way through development, Ubisoft pulled the plug on the multiplayer title.

Allegedly, the battle royale would’ve launched with one map set in the Watch Dogs version of Tokyo. This map is said to be around the size of Camden in Watch Dogs Legion, a moderately sized multiplayer arena.

Players would’ve been able to explore the Tokyo map whilst looting weapons and hacking abilities. Starting with the ability to disguise yourself as NPCs, you would be able to hide amidst large swathes of civilians as you avoid being hunted down by rival players.

Alongside Tokyo, the game was planned to have several new locations added in the future. Planned maps would’ve taken players to Toronto, Paris and more, but it was not to be.

Finally, the leak claims that the Watch Dogs battle royale game would’ve included numerous skins from other Ubisoft games. For example, Cassandra from Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Sledge from Rainbow Six and more were planned to be added.

One day, Ubisoft might revisit the idea for Watch_Dogs.exe one day in the future. However, with the publisher moving towards more traditional single player games, apart from Skull and Bones, we may not see the idea return.

Watch Dogs Legion, the most recent game in the series, launched in 2020 to middling response. Since then, the franchise has remained relatively silent.